Welcome to my website

Picture
For the "pre-shrunk" show at Argyle Fine Art on Barrington St, Halifax, I painted the toadstools that I show here. These were inspired by photographs I took last fall on a walk organised by the Photographic Guild along the Mi'kmawey Debert Interpretive Trail trail in Debert. This is a lovely woodland trail crossing several streams.

As a biologist and an artist, I feel that we are very much part of nature, and I am very aware of the wonder of the world around us. I find that nature is always unexpected, and I am fascinated by the constantly changing appearance of lakes, woods, brooks and fields.  When I first came to Canada, I was stunned by the magnificent blaze of red maples, yellow aspens and golden tamaracks in the fall and the interlacing shadows on sparkling snow in winter. These contrast with the piercingly blue sky of sunny fall and winter days, which I rarely saw in England. The relatively short but sunny summer means that there is a colourful parade of flowers to paint in my garden.

My main inspiration in portraying nature has been Tom Thomson, especially his plein air studies.  I also enjoy painting in the open air, surrounded by nature, and I try to show the vitality of what I experience by using expressive brushwork and vibrant colours. My interest in living things extends to portraying some of the wonderful people I have met, painting either from life or from photographs, so that I can show them in relaxed poses in their own surroundings. Recently I painted portraits of victims of human rights abuse, and "Portraits of Injustice" was shown in the Harbourside Gallery of the Immigration Museum in Halifax. This project was awarded a NS creation grant.

After a fulfilling career as a research scientist, closure of my DFO laboratory in 1997 led me to pursue my lifetime love of painting, and I graduated from NSCAD in 2005. I received the Elizabeth Greenshield's Award for an emerging artist in 2005, and the NS Art Bank bought my work in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. My paintings are featured in Landscape Painters of Nova Scotia (Nimbus Press), edited by Dee Appleby.

Link to full CV.